The American Friend
Wim Wenders pays loving homage to rough-and-tumble Hollywood film noir with The American Friend, a loose adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel Ripley’s Game. Dennis Hopper oozes quirky menace as an amoral American art dealer who entangles a terminally ill German everyman, played by Bruno Ganz, in a seedy criminal underworld as revenge for a personal slight—but when the two become embroiled in an ever-deepening murder plot, they form an unlikely bond. Filmed on location in Hamburg and Paris, with some scenes shot in grimy, late-seventies New York City, Wenders’s international breakout is a stripped-down crime story that mixes West German and American film flavors, and it features cameos by filmmakers Jean Eustache, Samuel Fuller, and Nicholas Ray.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, commissioned by the Wim Wenders Stiftung | A Foundation and supervised by director Wim Wenders, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Audio commentary from 2002 featuring Wenders and actor Dennis Hopper
- New interview with Wenders
- New interview with actor Bruno Ganz
- Deleted scenes with audio commentary by Wenders
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by author Francine Prose
New cover by Michael Boland
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, commissioned by the Wim Wenders Stiftung | A Foundation and supervised by director Wim Wenders, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Audio commentary from 2002 featuring Wenders and actor Dennis Hopper
- New interview with Wenders
- New interview with actor Bruno Ganz
- Deleted scenes with audio commentary by Wenders
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by author Francine Prose
New cover by Michael Boland
Cast
- Dennis Hopper
- Tom Ripley
- Bruno Ganz
- Jonathan Zimmermann
- Gérard Blain
- Raoul Minot
- Nicholas Ray
- Pogash/Derwatt
- Samuel Fuller
- The American
- Daniel Schmid
- Igraham
- Jean Eustache
- Friendly man
- Lisa Kreuzer
- Marianne Zimmermann
- Peter Lilienthal
- Marcangelo
- Sandy Whitelaw
- Doctor
- Lou Cassel
- Rodolphe
Credits
- Director
- Wim Wenders
- Screenplay by
- Wim Wenders
- Based upon the novel Ripley’s Game by
- Patricia Highsmith
- Produced by
- Wim Wenders
- Director of photography
- Robby Müller
- Editor
- Peter Przygodda
- Music by
- Jürgen Knieper
- Produced by
- Renée Gundelach
- Production design
- Heidi Lüdi
- Production design
- Toni Lüdi
- Special effects by
- Theo Nischwitz
- Songs
- The Kinks
